Kirsten Larson
Headquarters, Washington, DC November 20, 2000
(Phone: 202/358-0243)
Bruce Buckingham
Kennedy Space Center, FL
(Phone: 321/867-2468)
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
RELEASE: 00-182
ENDEAVOUR READY TO HELP INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
SPREAD ITS WINGS
Space Shuttle Endeavour and its five-member crew are set to
soar into orbit on a mission of space-flight firsts, including the
task of adding a pair of giant solar wings to the International
Space Station (ISS).
The launch of the shuttle is set for Thursday, Nov. 30.
Endeavour's liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, FL, on
mission STS-97 is targeted for 10:06 p.m. EST, in a launch window
that will be less than five minutes long.
"This mission will assemble the heaviest, largest and most complex
piece of the International Space Station to date," Space Shuttle
Program Manager Ron Dittemore said. "Every shuttle flight for the
next year carries its own set of firsts. But this mission,
unfolding solar arrays of historic proportions, will make the
challenge and grandeur of this entire venture more apparent than
will any other single flight. It's a great mission to complete a
very safe and successful year for the Space Shuttle team coast to
coast."
Endeavour will carry aloft a 17-ton package of immense solar
arrays and their associated batteries, electronics and cooling
equipment. Once deployed on ISS, this first set of solar sails
will measure 240 feet, tip-to-tip, and will provide enough
electricity to run 15 average-sized homes.
Veteran astronaut Brent Jett (Cmdr., USN) will command the
mission. Michael Bloomfield (Lt. Col., USAF) will serve as pilot.
They will be accompanied by Mission Specialists Joe Tanner, Carlos
Noriega (Lt. Col., USMC) and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Marc
Garneau.
Astronauts Tanner and Noriega will perform space walks during the
mission to install the giant solar panels and prepare for the
arrival next year of the American-made space laboratory Destiny.
Once in orbit, the Destiny module will be the most sophisticated
science laboratory ever launched into space.
Endeavour also will be the first shuttle to visit the Expedition
One crew, currently working in orbit on ISS. Along with the
technical equipment needed to attach the solar panels to ISS, the
crew of STS-97 will drop off supplies and equipment for the three-
person station crew, led by American Commander Bill Shepherd and
two Russian cosmonauts, Pilot Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer
Sergei Krikalev. The Expedition Crew arrived at the space station
Nov. 2 and will work onboard ISS for nearly four months.
For more information on the next flight of the space shuttle and
the ISS, visit:
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/
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